Who's your Bias?

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You were peacefully walking through the chaos that was M Countdown before filming, snacks in hand, before swiftly arriving at your destination. Taking a second, you take a deep breath in before opening the door to the chaos that was Aespa. The second you open the door, the snacks you were previously holding were snatched out of your hands.

"Hey! You could at least say 'thank you' before taking the snacks I so graciously got for you all!" you say with a face of mock anger.

"Why should we thank you for doing your job?" Giselle said while munching on some chocolate.

"Sorry Y/N" Ninging responded with a frown on her face while Winter just gave you a slight nod in appreciation.

"It's okay Ning. I can't blame you for Aeri's poor influence" you replied while shaking your head in mock disappointment.

"Why you little" Giselle started before being slapped on the shoulder by the leader of Aespa, Karina.

"Aeri be nice and Y/N stop antagonizing her" Karina aka Yu Jimin said as she scolded the two of you.

"I'm not antagonizing her" you retorted like a child which earned you a glare from Karina.

"Oh my god, can you two act like adults? Aeri, you are an idol and Y/N you are supposed to be our manager"

"Hey I didn't sign up for this. It's not my fault, I am such an amazing person that one of you begged me to start working for SM as part of your team" you cheekily replied which earned you a pillow thrown at your face by the one and only Karina.

"Oh shut up, don't act like you don't love it. You get to travel the world, meet idols, and constantly be surrounded by 4 hot women." Karina huffed.

Before you could add your retort, the lead manager of Aespa walked into the dressing room causing all of you to fall into attention.

"Okay girls, you will all be going on in 15 minutes. Are you ready?" she asked.

"Yes!" the 4 girls of Aespa replied as one.

"Perfect, Y/N I need you to call the hotel that we are staying at in Los Angeles to confirm the accommodations. I'm going to be leaning on you a lot in the next few months since we are going to be doing a lot more promotions in the US and in English."

"Sounds good Boss"

"Thank you Y/N. Okay ladies, let's get going to the stage. Everything should be good to go, but we just need to do some last second sound checks" the lead manager said while leading the girls out of the dressing room.

"Bye Y/N" they all said while leaving with Karina being the last one to leave.

"Don't fuck it up" Karina said with a smirk before softly bumping you.

"Wait Jimin, you have something on your forehead" you say before she can leave.

"Wait what?" she says in a panic before you flick her on the forehead.

"That" which earns you a kick in the shin.

"Yah, you piece of" Karina starts to say before being called by the lead manager which causes you to smile like a kid who just got away with something.

"I'm going to get you back" she replies before hustling to catch up with the rest of Aespa.

After watching Karina catch up with her group, you start walking to find the rest of the Aespa management team so you could figure out which hotel you needed to call. While looking for them, you start to think about how you actually ended up here. You see, you weren't Korean nor could you even speak the language. You actually were from the United States and got this job through pure luck. You were from Vietnam but grew up in the US. You have a Bachelor's degree in Economics and were working as a Business Analyst for a trucking company; but during Aespa's last world tour, you had flown out to Los Angeles to see Aespa with one of your college buddies who lived out there and somehow, you had run into Aespa while getting Pho in Long Beach while your friend worked. You had sat down at one of the tables at the Pho restaurant your friend had recommended and were eating when suddenly a whole host of people entered the restaurant and 4 girls with masks sat down at the table next to you. After taking off their masks, you instantly recognized them as the 4 members of Aespa. You tried to act normal but of course they had caught on that you recognized them; but instead of asking you to leave or ignoring you, Karina had actually started a conversation with you, with the help of Giselle, and soon enough they actually gave you two backstage and send off passes to their concert that night. When you told your friend about it, he couldn't believe it. Later, after the concert, you two were called backstage and got to meet Aespa again. While talking backstage, you and Karina got pretty close and exchanged instagram handles before they had their send off. When you and your friend got back to his apartment, you sent Karina a quick DM thanking her for an amazing show and such a great experience especially getting to meet and talk with her and the rest of Aespa, not thinking it would go anywhere; but luckily and miraculously, you were wrong.

Somehow during the next few months, the two of you kept DMing and right before you were going to renew your lease, you got the message that would change your life.

"Hey Y/N, I know this is a bit crazy, but our management team was looking for someone who spoke English and had a good read of the Kpop landscape without being in it fully, and I gave our lead manager your contact information and she says they want to bring you on full time as part of our management team! SM would pay for your relocation, Korean lessons, and the first 3 months of an apartment rental for you here in Seoul! What do you say???"- Yu Jimin.

You spent the next few days thinking it over before finally coming to the conclusion of "Fuck it, I'm young and I'm never going to get an opportunity like this again" before sending Karina a text saying that you would happily accept SM's offer.

One week later, you landed in Seoul and were taken to SM Entertainment's headquarters where you were officially confirmed as the newest member of Aespa's management team. After going through all the paperwork needed, you were led by the Lead Manager, who thankfully spoke English well enough, to meet Aespa officially. When you were led through the doors into their practice room, you were immediately greeted by Jimin sprinting at you and wrapping you in a massive hug. The other girls had much less over the top greetings. You and Winter exchanged pleasant hellos while NingNing looked at you in awe and Giselle looked at you like she found her newest toy to play with.

The next few months were a large learning curve for you. You started to learn the ins and outs of the behind the scenes of the Kpop industry while learning a whole new language and trying to communicate with your coworkers with a mixture of broken English, broken Korean, and Google Translate; but eventually, you got the hang of things and started actually being a net positive to the team and company. Not only that, but you also started becoming a lot closer to the rest of the girls aside from Jimin with each of them warming up to you in their own way and at their own pace. Winter or Minjeong, of course, was the quiet, diligent presence that slowly warmed up to you due to your own quieter nature which was even more prevalent due to you needing to learn the language and culture. The two of you connected through quiet or lowkey supportive gestures and actions while NingNing began warming up to you once you started bringing snacks and other little gifts for the members of Aespa. Giselle, on the other hand, began warming up to you after you started pushing back during her "play sessions" i.e. her seeing how far she could push you before you fought back. And finally, Karina or Jimin, the girl who you had first talked to from the group as well as the one who brought you to Seoul, as well as being your bias, which the girls pried out of you after a night of drinking games. She was your closest friend and biggest confidant throughout your time in Korea. She helped you with Korean and adjusting to the culture while you taught her English and gave her a shoulder to lean on when the role of being the leader was too much. You also gave her an outlet to be Yu Jimin instead of Karina of Aespa. The rest of the girls liked to make fun of the two of you, especially since learning that she was your bias, but you didn't pay it too much mind since you knew your place in her life: one of the employees assigned to support her and at the very most, a friend. Nothing more. I mean she is Yu Jimin, Karina of Aespa, one of the 4th generation visual leaders, she was a celebrity and you were just a normal guy who she someone decided was going to be one of her friends. She and her career came first before any feelings you may or may not have.

Anyway, back to the job at hand, you were looking for your team when you suddenly run into something or more accurately somebody, seeing them fall, you quickly grab hold of them and spin them around so you fall first and they fall on top of you. Taking a second to regain your senses, you see 4 young women standing around you and asking if you and your companion were okay in Korean. Suddenly, you begin to realize that the 4 women surrounding you were 4/5 members of Itzy: Ryujin, Yuna, Lia, and Chaeryeong. Seeing that it was only 4/5 members of Itzy, you begin to wonder where their leader and your ult bias Yeji was...until your brain slowly started to connect the dots... looking down at the person you had run into and now was laying on your chest, you are met by the two cat like eyes of Hwang Yeji. You are then abruptly aware of the exact situation you are in and exactly your hands are placed i.e. around the waist of Hwang Yeji, leader of Itzy, one of the most beautiful women in the world, who is also laying on your chest because your dumbass ran into her.

Not bothering to get up yet, you start apologizing profusely in broken Korean which causes the rest of Itzy to start laughing while they help their leader up before you eventually stand up and start bowing, while continuing to apologize. Still bowing, you feel a soft tap on your shoulder. Standing upright again, you are met by a blushing Yeji who tells you that it's okay. Mortified, you apologize one more time which earns a soft laugh from Yeji. But what you didn't notice, was that this entire interaction was seen by the prepping Aespa and more importantly, one Yu Jimin who started to scowl seeing you and Yeji interact.

"Unnie, it's time to go on," NingNing said innocently.

"Thanks Ning" Karina said before turning her back to you and Itzy.

Later that night, you were laying on your couch replaying the earlier scene in your head over and over again. Smacking your forehead every once in a while in a mixture of embarrassment and disbelief. You had met your ultimate bias Hwang Yeji... because you ran into her like a dumbass.

"Idiot Idiot Idiot" you kept muttering to yourself before hearing a knocking at your door.

Confused on who might be visiting you so late, you check your door cam and you are greeted by the smiling face of one Yu Jimin, who was holding a plastic bag full of what looks like soju.

You walk to the door before saying "No solicitors".

"Shut up dummy and let me in"

Sighing, you open the door.

"What?" you say annoyed.

"I saw what happened at M Countdown and thought you might need this" Jimin said while holding up a bag of Soju before barging through your entry way and plopping herself on your couch.

Knowing that there was no way to get rid of her, you shut the door to your apartment and drag yourself to your living room, ready for a night of humiliation.

Pouring herself and you a shot, the two of you cheer before knocking back the first round.

"Quite a way to introduce yourself to your ideal type Y/N" Jimin said with a smirk.

But instead of your usual banter, all you can do is bury your face in a pillow.

"Oh come on Y/N, it wasn't that bad"

Still with your face buried in a pillow, you reply with a muffled "Not only did I literally run into an idol, I ran into the idol of my dreams. And one of her best friends is your friend and I know she texted you about it."